Electrically heated body garment



March 17, 1970 s. ARRQN ELECTRICALLY HEATED BODY GARMENT Filed March 6,1968 .1 1 1. IIINGM. .u Ara INVENTOR. ifa/7 ey Arno/7 BY United3,501,616 Patented Mar. 17, 1970 3,501,616 ELECTRICALLY HEATED BODYGARMENT Stanley Arron, 3323 Old Town Road, Bridgeport, Conn. 06606 FiledMar. 6, 1968, Ser. No. 711,012

Int. Cl. HOSb 3/36, 3/54 U.S. Cl. 219-211 4 Claims ABSTRACT F THEDISCLOSURE A garment for covering the upper torso of a wearer and havingan electrical heat generating resistance strip positioned only at thesmall of the wearers back `with the heating element being resilientlyurged into contact with said wearers back and in which the garment isformed of three layers, an outer woven shell, a lining of reflectiveplastic film and an inner lining of batting disposed therebetween.

While it has heretofore been proposed to have garments that in additionto insulating against the loss of body heat also have electrical heatersfor adding heat to the garment, such garments have not been found to becompletely satisfactory. Such heretofore garments have had a heatedportion which extended over a substantial area of the Ibody and to beeffective, they accordingly required a relatively large electricalenergy source which limited their usefulness by restricting the movementof the wearer. They are generally unsuited for use with a portable powersupply, such as iiashlight cells, in view of relative inefficiency inproviding the maximum utilization of the generated heat to the user.Moreover, said garments have usually been formed of nonstretchablematerial so that they are spaced from the body and in effect arebaglike,

whereby the entire garment is loose on the wearer and -the heatingelement merely heats the interior of the garment.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide anelectrically heated garment which while effectively heating the upperpart of a wearer may utilize a small portable power source or batteries.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a garment for theupper torso of a wearer which has a heating element which concentratesthe heat solely at a sensitive portion of the torso to thereby providethe maximum effect of the heat to the user.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an electricallyheated garment which is formed of essentially nonstretchable insulatingmaterial to be relatively loose fitting but yet in Awhich the heatingelement is urged into contact with the rwearer even with the remainderof the garment being somewhat loose on the wearer.

' Still another object of the present invention is to provide a garmentthat is relatively economical to manufacture but which has substantialbody heating. insulating ability.

In carrying out the present invention, the embodiment specificallydisclosed herein consists of a vest which has a portion that extendstransversely of the small of the wearers back. Though, for the purposesof the present invention, it is immaterial if the garment has sleeves oris sleeveless, it does have a back that covers the `wearers back and isnormally loose with respect thereto. Specifically, the back has aportion that extends transversely across the small of the lwearers back.At this portion there is secured a strip of electric resistance wire4which converts electric power to the strip into heat along the surfacesof the strip. The strip is elongate to extend across the small of thewearers back and supplies heat solely to this area which I have found tobe an area that is extremely sensuous to heat.

. As the heat is localized in this area and not spread out, the maximumphysiological effect from the quantity of energy supplied by the powersource is achieved. Thus, the garment of the present invention iscapable of being heated just by iiashlight batteries which may becarried in a pocket formed in the vest.

The garment is formed to have extremely high insulating ability andconsists of essentially an outer shell of woven synthetic fiber, as forexample, nylon tafieta, gabardine, and a lining of perforated, thin,impervious plastic film such as Mylan The lining has a reiiective innersurface for refiecting the body heat facing the wearer. Positionedbetween the shell and plastic film is a layer of batting, such aspolyester fiber, that is made some-what stiff by the use of a plasticbonding agent. As the plastic film is not stretchable, and the battingsomewhat stiff, they tend to render the garment relatively loose fittingand in accordance with the present invention, that portion of thegarment carrying the electric heating element is resiliently urgedagainst the Wearers back by the use of resilient means positioned inthis area. More particularly, elastic strips are positioned totransversely compress this portion containing the heating elementagainst the wearer, so that heat will be transferred directly to thewearer.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a view of the electrically heated garment, specifically avest, of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view taken on the line 2 2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view similar to FIG. 2 and taken on the line 3 3of FIG. l.

FIG. 4 is a sketch of the relative positioning of the heater on a user.

Referring to the drawing, the garment of the present invention isgenerally indicated by the reference numeral 10. It is specificallydisclosed as a sleeveless vest having arm holes 11 together with 4aclosure means, such as a zipper 12, formed on adjacent front edgeportions with the zipper adapted to be positioned at the front of thewearer. The portion of the garment which is adapted to be located at thesmall of the wearers back has an electric heating strip generallyindicated by the reference numeral 13 secured thereat.

Referring to FIG. 2, the heating element consists of a length ofrelatively wide to thick, somewhat fiexible,

'electrical resistance metal covered by a folded over sheet of perviousfabric material 14 having thermoplastic adhesive so as to bond theheating element therebetween to be secured thereto. A thin strip ofplastic film such as Mylar 15 having a reflective surface 15a isadhesively secured as by adhesive 16 to one side of the sheet 14. Theother side of the sheet 14 is overlaid by a piece of cotton bias tape 17having inturned edges. The resistance strip 13 has two insulatedconducting wires 18 and 19 connected to each of its ends and the wire 19is positioned just under the bias tape 17 in FIG. 2. For a fullerdescription of the heating element and its associated parts, referenceis made to my copending application Ser. No. 597,634, filed Nov. 29,1966.

The garment 10 has the arm holes 11 formed by a i pair of seams 20 and21 extending from the arm holes 11 to the upper edge 22 or neckencircling portion. The garment is composed of three layers of material,and referring to FIG. 2, they consist of an outer layer 23 formed of awoven synthetic fiber, such as nylon having a gabardine, taifeta, etc.,weave, a lining 24 formed of a thin plastic impervious film such asMylar having a vacuum deposited rellective aluminum coating v24a and aninterposed layer of thin batting material 25, such as polyester fiber.The liner 24 is essentially a nonstretchable material as opposed forexample to a usual knit or woven fabric and accordingly tends to makethe garment relatively loose fitting particularly in the area where theheating element 13 is positioned such that normally this area isinsulated from the body of the wearer by an air space. The relativelystiif layer 25 also tends to prevent the garment from being formfitting. The garment is preferably formed from at pieces of the layersZ3, 24 and 25 cut to shape with the only seams being the seams and 21while stitching also extends about the periphery of the garment tosecure the three layers together.

To enhance the effect of the heating element 13 to the user, the presentinvention provides specilically a strip of elastic material 28 that issewed at the opposite ends of the heating element in a stretchedcondition as at 28a and 28b. When released, the strip returns to itsoriginal length to cause gathering or bunching to occur in the garmentadjacent thereto. Preferably, as shown in FIG. 3, the bias tape 17extends beyond the heating element and overlays the strip 28. Theelastic strip is of one piece to extend beneath the heating element suchas shown at 28C in FIG. 2 where it is not normally stretched when sewedin position.

In both FIGS. 2 and 3, a pair of spaced parallel lines of stitching 30pass through the bias tape 17 to the outer shell 23 to secure theheating elements, associated parts and elastic strip together.

The garment is formed with a front pocket, indicated generally by thereference numeral 31, which is adapted to hold a source of electricalenergy such as a pair of batteries 32 (though just one may be used ifdesired). The wires 18 and 19 are releasably connected to the batteriesas by releasable, electrical connectors, with the batteries being heldin a conventional battery holder 32a. The wires extend from the pocket31 through a slit 33 formed in the garment to enter beneath the biastape 17 where they are contained by the stitches 30 as they extend to beconnected to the ends of the heating element 13.

Referring to FIG. 4, there is pictorially shown a user with the heatingelement portion of the garment being positioned thereon as it would bewhen the vest is worn. It will be understood that the heating element 13serves to localize its heat in the area of the small of the wearers backwhich is the area below the rib cage but above the hips. It has beenfound that this is an extremely sensitive area to the presence of heatand by the localizing of the heat thereat, its effect is more pronouncedto the user. The elastic strips 28a and 28h are transversely alignedwith the heating element and serve to compress at least the portion ofthe garment having the heating element against the used to assure thatmaximum heat transfer will occur. Thus the strip 28 may extend somewhataround the sides of the user.

The specific layers of material which form the garmentv have been foundto be extremely high in insulating value to minimize heat loss,especially the use of the plastic film liner Z4 combined with the layerof batting material 25. The film 24 is moisture and air impervious, andit has been found desirable to provide a plurality of small perforationstherethrough, as for example the perforations 24e. The size of theperforations and their number may be selected as found most preferablewith the use of 1/16 inch diameter perforations and Lry1@ inch centerdistance being one example thereof. The batting, by reason of itsplastic or latex spray or dip coating does not tend to have loose fibersthat extend through the holes.

In one example of the present invention, the heating element is 10inches long, 1A; inch wide, .005 thick and formed of an electricresistance material known as Chromeef Naturally, the shape of the wiremay vary therefrom within the scope of the present invention but yet itsShape must be such as to maintain the localizing of the heating at thesensitive area of the back where nerves are relatively close to the skinsurface.

With respect to the lining 24, one material that has been foundextremely satisfactory is sold under the trade name Astrolon by TheNorton Co., Winchester, Mass. It is composed of two very thin (.001 to.002 inch thick) sheets of bonded'together plastic film with a grid ofnylon or fiber glass cords secured therebetween to add reinforcement andtear strength to the plastic liner. As to the batting layer 2S, onesatisfactory material is sold under the trade names Interll andLina-fill fby Fiberlill, Inc., New York, N.Y. It is composed ofpolyester fibers that are bonded together in a fluffy state by either adip coating or a spray coating of hardened bonding material such as aheat activated plastic or latex material. The batting is thus somewhatthick (l: to 1A inch), resilient form retaining yet somewhat stiff andof high insulating value.

It will accordingly be understood that there has been disclosed agarment which not only serves to prevent loss of body heat but alsoincludes a heating element for adding to the body heat. The element isenergized from a small portable battery and converts the electricalenergy into heat only where the heating element extends. To achievemaximum utilization of the heat, it is caused to be localized just at asensitive area of the Wearers back and to be urged into contact with thewearer to assure direct heat transfer.

Variations and modifications may be made within the scope of the claimsand portions of the improvements may be used without others.

I claim:

1. An electrically heated body garment having a por' tion adapted tooverlie a sensitive area at the small of the back of a wearer, anelectric resistance heating element including a thin relatively flexibleelongate strip of electric resistance ribbon, said strip extending onlytransversely :across the back at the sensitive area to localize the heatthereat, said garment normally being spaced away from the'small of theback of the wearer, compression meansat least adjacent opposite ends ofthe heating element to cause bunching of the garment to force saidsensitive area of the garment against the small of the back of thewearer to effect heat iiow therebetween and localize heating thereat, aportable source of electrical energy for said heating strip including abattery and electrical conductor means extending from said battery tosaid strip.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1 in which the compression meansincludes an elastic strip positioned adjacent either end of the heatingelement, said elastic means being sewed in a stretched condition tocause said bunching.

3. The invention as defined in claim 2 in which there is a fabric tapeoverlying the elastic strips and heating element, in which the tape issecured to the garment by a pair of spaced apart stitches extending thelength of the tape with the stitches passing through the heating elementand the elastic strips and in which at least portions of the conductormeans are disposed beneath the tape.

4. An electrically heated vest having a back part and a front part, saidback part including a portion adapted to overlie the small of thewearers back, said garment being formed of essentially nonstretchablematerial including a plastic film lining to have said portion spacedfrom the wearers back, heating element means secured to said lining andadapted to extend transversely across only said small part of thewearers back, said heating element means including an elongate ribbon ofelectrical resistance material, elastic means transversely aligned withsaid heating element means and serving to compress said portion of thegarment against the wearer to force said heating element against saidwearers back, a pocket formed in the front part and adapted to hold asource of electrical energy and connecting means extending from saidpocket to said ribbon.

2,982,105 5/1961 Akers. 3,051,821 8/1962 Dion 2,19-529 3,084,241 4/1963Carrona 219-211 References Cited 3,183,868 5/ 1965 Shotsky 112--420 XUNITED STATES PATENTS 3,407,818 10/1968 COSHHZO 12S-384 sDcllva-Z-j; zlszzl VOLODYMYR Y. MAYEWSKY, Primary Examiner Zelano 2--93 stein 219-528X US CL X-R- SChWebele 12S-402 X 10 2-93; 128--40`2; 219-527, 529 Brown2-2

